Situ Live, which has promised to reinvent bricks-and-mortar retail with experiential and technology-led offerings, has opened its first store in Westfield London.
The shop spans 7,500 sq ft and focuses on elevating the traditional in-store experience, allowing visitors to try out innovative products related to fitness, sleep and transport among others.
Visitors can explore areas related to fulfilling certain needs, such as sleep and relaxation or home office setup. Each area is equipped with curated and relevant displays of products ready for consumers to immediately try.
The venue contains a fully operational kitchen, a lounge where consumers can try tech devices, a fitness zone, as well as an area with products equipped to promote better sleep and relaxation. There is also a focus on innovation in transport and travel, gaming as well as education technology for children.
Consumers can also interact with Maserati’s MC20 sports car during their visit, as well as experience virtual reality by using the Oculus Quest 2 headset in its own dedicated area.
Within the immersive store concept, there are no checkout registers or sales teams. Situ Live chief executive Warren Richmond told Retail Week that the point of a visit then moves from being focused on the purchase to the experience of discovering something new.
Customers interested in buying an item will instead have to scan a QR code on the product and save the item to their favourites list where they have the opportunity to purchase directly from the brand online.
This experiential approach has attracted the interest of brands globally, with products from 75 companies throughout the store including Bosch, Fitbit, Facebook and Epson.
The store aims to woo consumers back to a physical space following an acceleration in online spending during the pandemic. Situ Live will transform its offering every six weeks to match the latest trends and customer demand.
Richmond said: “Fundamentally, what we are doing is bringing products to life in a live retail environment. It’s not about pushing the sale, it’s about live products and consumers discovering the products.”
While this is the first Situ Live outlet in the UK, Richmond said there are plans for more, with the next store location already chosen.
“Retail needs reinvigorating as endless rows of boxes on shelves are boring,” he added. ”Instead, retail must redefine its role and develop a new purpose to capture the hearts and minds of modern-day consumers.
“Brands need to provide a space for consumers to understand how products work and how they may fit into and benefit their lives, whilst giving them the choice of where, when, and how to buy the product. However traditional retail makes creating a space like this cost-prohibitive for many brands. With Situ Live we remove those barriers by fundamentally changing the commercial retail model.”
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